When Your Heart Aches, So Does Mine
by NoahPuckermansWifey
Summary: Rachel Corcoran has always been fortunate to have so many people in her life that love her. What happens when her mother, who is the most important person, dies. Will her boyfriend Jesse be able to get her through? **Rating may change later. St. Berry


**Alright, so for this to work, you need to imagine that Rachel was never a McKinley student. She is actually a junior at Carmel High and is in Vocal Adrenaline. She and Jesse have been dating since her freshman year and she lives with her mom, Shelby Corcoran. She doesn't have gay fathers but her father does know about her. It will become really obvious who her father is when she transfers to McKinley with Jesse to be closer to said father. Also, Quinn is not pregnant; it would make the whole story just weirder for me if she was. I don't think there's anything else, except for Rachel and Jesse do **_**not**_** have any malicious ulterior motives for transferring other than Rachel wanting to live with her father and Jesse wanting to be with her to support her. Also, since this is AU and all, I've made Terri nice. Will never divorced her because she never pretended to be pregnant and Emma and Will are not in love. I find that whole story line too annoying to write it. Carl does exist and he's Emma's fiancé.**

**This story is dedicated to my friend Julie [Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon] who always gives me newer ideas for St. Berry stories with our long, endless conversations/analysis' of everything St. Berry and Puckleberry.**

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think.**

Rachel Barbra Corcoran and Jesse Jonathan St. James were not stupid. They knew that it was risky and suspicious for them to transfer from Carmel – where they were respected, adored and treated like royalty - to McKinley – where they had to start fresh – in the middle of the semester. They were two very well known teens in the entire state of Ohio for their three consecutive victories at Show Choir Nationals for Vocal Adrenaline. People would probably be whispering about how their newest students were spying on New Directions, sent by Shelby herself – because who better to send than her own precious daughter and said daughter's extremely protective boyfriend – to get as much information on their rival club as possible to effectively destroy New Directions and one William Shuester – who was rumored to have broken Shelby's heart in high school by dating her rival, Terri.

Rachel could really care less about what they said; she just needed to get away from that place because what the people of Lima, Ohio _didn't know_ was that Shelby Corcoran was dead. A few weeks prior to the sudden middle-of-the-semester transfer, Rachel and Shelby got into a car accident on their way home from Vocal Adrenaline practice. Shelby had been crossing an intersection when a drunk driver ran a red light and crashed right into the driver's side of the car, killing her instantly. Rachel, who hadn't been wearing a seat belt at the time because she was reaching for something in the behind her mother's chair, was flipped straight onto the back seat. Rachel was able to [figuratively] walk away from the crash with a concussion, many cuts and bruises, fractured ribs, a sprained ankle and wrist and the terrifying trauma of having to dig through her dead mother's pockets for a cell phone [because fate was cruel and her phone battery just happened to be dead] to call for help.

Jesse had been almost home when he got the phone call from a hysterical Rachel sobbing out that they had gotten into an accident and that it was too late for Shelby. He had had to remain calm while his beloved girlfriend frantically claimed that she was going to end her own life with a rather large piece of glass she found on the floor of the car and repeatedly crying out _"I'm so sorry, Jesse. I love you. I'm so sorry." _before he was finally able to talk her out of actually going through with her completely irrational contingency plan.

Within six hours of Rachel actually being admitted to the hospital, Jesse and Rachel's father - who had driven down from Lima to be with his daughter when he got the call from Jesse - woke up to the sounds of her screams. Jesse's heart broke when Rachel cried out for her mother only to break down completely when she remembered what happened. He quickly but carefully maneuvered himself onto her hospital bed and held her as closely and tightly as he possibly could with her injuries and whispered sweet nothings and reassuring words to her while repeatedly placing gentle kisses on her hairline and her bruised and cut face.

"Jesse," she whimpered, "it hurts so badly and I miss her so much. Why, Jesse? Why did she have to _die_? It should have been me, not her, never her. I – I had to – had to go thr-though her pockets, Jesse, all while she was just laying there _d-dead._"

"Baby," Jesse whispered in a hoarse and broken voice. He hated to see his girl in so much pain and hearing her say things like that was actually killing him. "Please don't say things like that, _please._ You know I wouldn't be able to survive without you. I wouldn't live through your death because I would die _with_ you. She wouldn't have wanted you to be wishing it was you in her place. Think of how much it would hurt _her _if she had survived and you didn't, baby. And what about me? Or your father? Our friends? Your death would affect so many people, Rach. Don't get me wrong because _her _being gone is just as devastating but she lived her life protecting you, baby; she promised that she was going to protect you until the day that she died and she _did_."

"I just – I want my mommy, Jess," the broken girl cried into her loving boyfriend's strong chest.

"I know, baby, I know," he murmured while running his hand through her dark hair. "Just know that she will always, _always_ be in your heart. Forever."

Rachel's father watched on as Jesse continued to calm Rachel and get her down from her hysteria, in awe of the pure love that the boy obviously had for his daughter. He hadn't seen anybody look at anyone else with the same look that Jesse had in his eyes when he gazed at the small girl. Seeing such a beautiful display of love from the young couple made him sure that he was making the right decision in agreeing to let Jesse live with him to be close to Rachel. As much as it saddened him to admit, she needed this young man more than she needed him at the moment and separating them would only have devastating effects.

Shelby's funeral was held the two days after the accident and Rachel was released from the hospital for the day with a nurse tagging along with her to make sure she did alright. All of the students of Carmel High attended the Celebration of Life that was held for the public after the burial. Jesse was glad that the nurse and Rachel's dad were there with them because it took all three of them to hold Rachel back from throwing herself into her mother's grave the four times she attempted it. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all looked on with sympathy and sadness as the most precious person in Shelby's life completely lost control of herself. It was the most heartbreaking thing any of them had ever witnessed.

After a week of being kept in the hospital Rachel was released into her father's custody and left the hospital with a shattered heart and the number of the best psychologist in Lima. Both Jesse and her father had previously gone to her home she shared with her mother, packed all of her things and drove them over to the house in Lima so she would not have to walk into the house filled with memories that would surely break her. No matter how hard they tried, Rachel would not speak to anyone except for her boyfriend and her father. The first time her stepmother tried to touch her Rachel buried herself deeper into Jesse's embrace and turned her face into his chest. The woman was absolutely shattered that the girl she loved as if she were her own daughter reacted to her in such a way when she usually took comfort in her presence. Her husband had later explained to her that she had acted that way with anyone tried to touch her and she merely stared off into space when someone other than himself and Jesse spoke to her. He told her that she would need to wait until Rachel came to her and just let her be for the time being.

When Rachel and Jesse finally started their first day of McKinley all four of the family members were very nervous as to how the day would go. Both Jesse and Rachel were afraid of what might happen because the only time they were together throughout their day was during their third period music class and the lunch hour they had right after that. They tried very hard to get more classes together but since they were in different grades it was impossible. The only thing Principle Figgins said he could do was put them in classes that were a few doors down from each other at the very most and right next door to each other if he could manage it. All of their teachers were informed of their situation. Rachel's teachers were told to call Jesse first and then Rachel's father if she ever started to have a panic attack or it seemed as though something was wrong with her.

The day had been going smoothly so far and Jesse was glad. He had just gotten out of his second period English class and was walking rather quickly to the choir room where their music class would be held so he could get to Rachel who he knew would be there waiting for him already. The closer Jesse got to the classroom the more he could hear the unmistakable sounds of a person being teased. He didn't really pay any mind to what was being said until he heard his girlfriend's last name being said tauntingly and the girl's responding whimper.

"Rachel," he called as he burst into the room suddenly.

"Jesse," she cried in return, standing up from her seat and running into his arms.

Jesse looked around at the twelve people who were standing in the room and narrowed his eyes at the blonde girl in the cheerleading uniform and the ridiculously awkward looking tall boy who was standing next to her. They seemed to be the ones that were giving Rachel a hard time. The remainder of the group was standing off to the side looking like they wanted to say something but couldn't. Two boys and one girl especially stood out to him as they were the only ones who had their hands balled into fists at their sides and were leaning forward as if ready to attack the two tormentors. The girl was obviously Latina and was also wearing a cheerleading uniform and one of the boys had a mohawk while the other had blonde hair and a comically large mouth. He decided right then that he was going to get along with those three, but first he needed to know what the hell was going on.

"What the hell Corcoran," the blonde girl exclaimed. "Did your bitch mother send both you and your boyfriend here to spy on us? Well guess what, you little filthy whore, it's not going to work. Mr. Shuester won't let you in the club once he sees you."

Jesse felt his blood boil at the mention of Shelby and he saw red when he heard Rachel's whimper and he felt her shiver in his arms. Before he could respond though, he suddenly heard the words to "Funny Girl" and he blanched. Sure enough, Rachel froze in his arms for a second before collapsing while gasping for air.

"Rachel, baby, breath," Jesse murmured as he sank to the floor with her in his arms still. He looked up angrily and saw the entire group staring at them in shock, "turn that fucking ringtone off!" he practically shouted. The phone was promptly shut by a feminine look boy who looked back up at him in apology.

"What's wrong with her," the tall boy sneered, "is she afraid because we found out what you're trying to do? Gotta go call your mommy now don't you, to come save your ass."

"We didn't come here to spy on you, asshole," Jesse yelled, "we came here because Shelby Corcoran died three weeks ago and we're living with Rachel's father now who just so happens to live in Lima and work at this school. She's having a panic attack because that song was her mother's favorite and they always sang it together. It's the first time she's heard any music since the accident."

"Wow," tall boy muttered, "so the Wicked Bitch of Carmel is finally dead? Serves her fucking right."

Before anyone could respond to the comment the teenagers all heard the unmistakably angry voice of one William Shuester say, "What. Did you just say, Hudson?" in a eerily calm tone.

The boy had no answer for his teacher and mentor so he just stood there.

"Why do you care so much," the blonde girl next to him scoffed. "All that matters is that we caught the dirty spies, Shuester."

"That 'dirty spy' just so happens to be my daughter, Quinn Fabray," Will said.

**Okay, so the whole be mysterious about Rachel's daddy thing only worked for a while there but I felt like I needed to reveal his identity right at the end of the chapter.**

**I hope you liked it. If you did [and even if you didn't], please be a dear and review the chapter. I might not update as much as I'd like to but I'm in college so that keeps me really busy a lot of the time.**


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